France Decides: Ceos Briefing

Benoit Bazin

CEO

Saint-Gobain

After studying in France and in the United States, and spending four years at the Interministerial Committee for Industrial Restructuring (ICIR) and the Treasury Department within the French Ministry of Finance, Benoit Bazin joined Saint-Gobain in 1999. He held various positions in France and, starting in 2002, in the United States – in a general management role within High-Performance Materials, before taking the Chief Financial Officer role of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain in 2005. From 2009 to the end of 2015, Benoit Bazin headed the Building Distribution Sector. In 2010, he was named Senior Vice President of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain. From 2016 to the end of 2018, Benoit Bazin headed the Construction Products Sector. During 2017, he was President and CEO of CertainTeed Corporation in the United States. He was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain on January 1, 2019 and elected to the Board on June 3, 2021. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer as from July 1, 2021. In addition, Benoit Bazin has been appointed as Director of Vinci on June 18, 2020 and is, as such, member of the Remuneration Committee and of the Nomination and Corporate Governance Committee. He was also a Director and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee of Essilor between 2009 and 2017, chairing the Audit and Risk Committee from May 2016 to March 2017.

Stephanie Yon-Courtin

Member of the European Parliament

Renew Group

Stéphanie Yon-Courtin is a Member of the European Parliament (Renew Group), Vice-President of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and substitute member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), on the Fisheries (PECH) and of the sub-committee on taxation (FISC). She was rapporteur for the 2019 annual competition policy report and shadow rapporteur for the 2020 report on the Capital Markets Union. She is also Chair of the delegation for relations with Canada and a member of the delegation for relations with the United States. Stéphanie is also a member of the Calvados Departmental Council. Prior to her election as an MEP in 2019, she was Mayor of Saint-Contest, and a Vice-President of the urban community Caen la Mer. Prior to that, Stéphanie worked as an advisor on international affairs in the office of Bruno Lasserre, former President of the French Competition Authority. She was admitted to the Paris Bar in 2004, specialising in competition law, and worked in international law firms. She also worked as a legal expert in the European Commission.

Roxanne Varza

Director

STATION F

Roxanne Varza is Director of STATION F, the biggest startup campus in the world with more than 1.000 startups, located in Paris. She is originally from Silicon Valley. Before joining STATION F, she led Microsoft Ventures Paris and TechCrunch France. She also worked for several London-based startups and cofounded StarHer, Tech.eu and Failcon France. Prior to her current role, Roxanne was the lead for Microsoft’s start-up activities in France, running both Bizspark and Microsoft Ventures programs for 3 years. She was also Editor of TechCrunch France from 2010-2011 and has written for several publications including Business Insider and The Telegraph. In April 2013, Business Insider listed her as one of the top 30 women under 30 in tech. She has also been listed in additional rankings by Business Insider, Vanity Fair and Le Figaro, The Evening Standard and more. Roxanne also co-founded StartHer (ex Girls in Tech Paris) and is the co-organizer of the Failcon Paris conference. More recently, she co-founded Tech.eu, a European tech media backed by Dave McClure, Adeo Ressi, Daniel Waterhouse and more. Prior to TechCrunch, Roxanne worked for the French government’s foreign direct investment agency helping fast-growing startups develop their activities in France. Roxanne has spoken, moderated, mentored and judged numerous startup events and programs throughout Europe and also helps European startups with content and communications. Roxanne is trilingual and holds degrees from UCLA, Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics. She is also an epilepsy advocate.

Francine Lacqua

Editor-at-Large

Bloomberg TV

Francine Lacqua is an award-winning London-based anchor for Bloomberg Television. She co-anchors daily weekday program “Bloomberg Surveillance: Early Edition,” where she provides insight on foreign policy, global markets and the top business stories of the day. She also presents “Leaders with Lacqua,” a special series where she sits down with top CEOs, entrepreneurs and public figures. Additionally, she anchors “ETF IQ Europe” weekly. Since joining Bloomberg in 2000, Lacqua has covered the World Economic Forum in Davos, IMF in Washington, G20 meetings, the EU Leaders Summit and OPEC. She also led Bloomberg Television’s coverage of the Italian and French elections where she was one of the first international reporters to interview cabinet members. While at Bloomberg, Lacqua has interviewed high-profile figures such as French President Emmanuel Macron, ECB President Christine Lagarde, Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, Billionaire financier George Soros and former ECB President Mario Draghi. She has also interviewed finance ministers from South Korea, Russia, France, Mexico, Italy and Greece, as well as moderating televised debates from the World Economic Forum in Davos and the European Economic Governance package. In 2018, Lacqua received the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy (Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia). The decoration, honoring Italians living abroad who promote national prestige and co-operation with the nation, was presented by the Italian Ambassador Raffaele Trombetta on behalf of the president of Italy. In 2013 Lacqua won ‘International TV Personality of the Year’ at the AIB Media Awards. She was previously nominated in 2009 and 2010. In 2012, she was part of the Bloomberg team that won the OPEC award for ‘Public Interest Reporting’. She has an LLB in English law from King’s College in London and earned her undergraduate degree at the Sorbonne. She is fluent in French and Italian.